Soccer stadiums in an urban setting?

[-kj]

16 hours ago, tBBP said:

and it is literally right off the US-52 freeway get-off ramp

 

I think you're thinking of CHS Field, current home of the St. Paul Saints.  Allianz is at 94 and Snelling (MN-51).

[tBBP]

1 hour ago, -kj said:

 

I think you're thinking of CHS Field, current home of the St. Paul Saints.  Allianz is at 94 and Snelling (MN-51).

 

That stretch of 94 is part of 52.   

 

(And 12, while we're at it...don'tcha just love route concurrencies?)

[GriffinM6]

Two more stadiums I've been to tons of times. First is Mercedes Benz Stadium, home of Atlanta United and the Falcons. You can even see the Hawks' home, State Farm Arena, next door. 

 

 

The second is Exploria stadium in Orlando. The neighborhood it's in is interesting. Basically on the north side of the stadium, it's sketchy, while the south and east sides have some newer housing developments and are near the Amway Center. 

 

[-kj]

4 hours ago, tBBP said:

 

That stretch of 94 is part of 52.   

Exactly no one calls it 52 there.    

(But concurrencies are cool.)

 

[chcarlson23]

1 hour ago, -kj said:

Exactly no one calls it 52 there.    

(But concurrencies are cool.)

 

Yeah I was going to say something, but I realized it is technically 52. I’ve just never heard of it as 52, that stretch is almost always referred to as only 94... 

[Digby]

I hate the monstrosity of a new stand that Portland build on the northeast side. The way the stadium originally (at least as a full-time soccer stadium) opened up to the tree-lined sidewalk was so cool, with the trolleys passing by. I guess it's cool on its merits being so tall and steep, but knowing what it replaced is too bad, and what terrible timing to build that just before Covid.

[B-Rich]

1 hour ago, Digby said:

I hate the monstrosity of a new stand that Portland build on the northeast side. The way the stadium originally (at least as a full-time soccer stadium) opened up to the tree-lined sidewalk was so cool, with the trolleys passing by. I guess it's cool on its merits being so tall and steep, but knowing what it replaced is too bad, and what terrible timing to build that just before Covid.

 

 Yep.  This is what that side looked like when we attended a game in 2016:

 

I guess the replacement stands were a factor of their success at the gate; as is seen in this picture the place was PACKED for games and I guess  they figured they could add (and sell) more seats. 

 

Meanwhile  in the original portion on the other side (where we sat) it wasn't nearly as nice.  That section appears little changed from the original stadium set-up and configuration: pole-blocked views,  painted wooden bleachers, exposed concrete understructure, etc.    Felt like we were one of these guys:

 

 

 

[MJWalker45]

1 hour ago, B-Rich said:

 

 Yep.  This is what that side looked like when we attended a game in 2016:

 

 

I also liked that the end to the right used to be basically a beer garden, before they put in bleachers at that end. I'll have to find some of my pictures from when I went there in 2010.

[Digby]

I actually like the old side of the Portland park too. Feels like Fenway Park, for better or worse (classic charm vs. obstructive poles and crush-load concourses). Kind of unique among American soccer stadiums that are all newer but kinda samey. 

[tBBP]

So THAT'S what they were doing to the place when I went by there in 2019. I didn't know what was up, just that they were renovating the place.  Didn't know you were able to see downtown like that from inside the venue.  Wellp...we all know money talks at the end of the day, so if building more seats to sell equals more revenue--views of downtown be doggoned--well...

 

...And getting back to Allianz for a second: not that any of this matters to this discussion, but, relative to its size, MSP probably has more freeway lanes than any other metro in the country not named Los Angeles or Kansas City (actually, I think MSP has KC beat by a bit.)  The reason I got used to using US routes going thru there rather than interstate routes is because from a distance its dang-near impossible to distinguish Minnesota's state route signs from regular interstate signs, being that they both have the same color blue background (real intelligent thinking there, MNDOT!):

 

 

 That's necessary info to decode from a half-mile to a mile out when piloting a 74-foot-long 80000-lb combination vehicle on a busy corridor in a metro with some of the most bipolar motorists ever on earth (some act like they'll go to prison if they come within 5 mph of the speed limit; others treat it like Indy Motor Speedway--in the same lanes no less--and don't get me started on the zipper merge OR all that doggone road work going on up there). All that said, the white shield shape of the US route is easily distinguishable (Unless you're in Connecticut or Rhode Island in which case half the time the route sign shapes are just outlines), so...yeah, 52 it is for me. 

 

Anyway, back to soccer stadiums...

[Discogod]

I don't know if this counts as it was demolished a long time ago, but here's Maine Road, the beloved former home of Manchester City:

 

[Gothamite]

I think this topic speaks to the specific history of soccer here in America, because when I read the original question, as a global soccer fan my reaction was “yes, almost all of them.”

 

Soccer stadiums everywhere but here are just like baseball stadiums are here - anything old is in the heart of a population center.

 

In the States, we didn’t start building soccer stadiums until the 1990s.  When, through a combination of fashion and lack of available land downtown, we were in the “build it way out there” phase. 

[gosioux76]

On 9/23/2021 at 11:42 AM, tBBP said:

So THAT'S what they were doing to the place when I went by there in 2019. I didn't know what was up, just that they were renovating the place.  Didn't know you were able to see downtown like that from inside the venue.  Wellp...we all know money talks at the end of the day, so if building more seats to sell equals more revenue--views of downtown be doggoned--well...

 

You're not wrong, but having lived there at the time, I don't look at it that cynically. During its first few years, Timbers tickets were not easy to get. Every game was a sellout and it was even difficult to find tickets on the aftermarket. It wasn't impossible; it just required some work and a willingness to pay. In times like that, most professional sports team owners would look to upgrade their venue so that supply can meet demand. But there was no way Merritt Paulson was going to leave one of best gameday experiences in American soccer for a characterless suburban location. The only option was to build up from what they already had. 

 

I don't really see how the expansion is much of an eyesore. Besides, it's not like the atmosphere within Providence Park was predicated on having obstructed views of downtown -- it's about what's going on inside the stadium rather than outside of it.  I'd rather see bigger crowds than the distraction of the MAX train rolling by every few minutes. 

 

And to @tBBP's question about what came first, the stadium or the neighborhood, I can't say for sure, because I wasn't around in 1893 when it was built (  ), but from what I know, that area was largely a produce farm prior to its construction. So I'd guess the stadium came before the neighborhood. 

[Discrim]

On 9/30/2021 at 12:10 PM, Discogod said:

I don't know if this counts as it was demolished a long time ago, but here's Maine Road, the beloved former home of Manchester City:

 

That had to be a pretty convenient walk for a lot of Man City supporters.  Knowing nothing about how Maine Road evolved at all, the stands all look like they were built at wildly different points in time, or at least were designed by wildly different architects.  

[Discogod]

23 hours ago, Discrim said:

That had to be a pretty convenient walk for a lot of Man City supporters.  Knowing nothing about how Maine Road evolved at all, the stands all look like they were built at wildly different points in time, or at least were designed by wildly different architects.  

That's exactly right, the stadium was extended and rebuilt at several different times, resulting in a rather disjointed aesthetic, although I think that was part of the charm.

 

My grandparents lived about a mile and a half away in Longsight, it was a nice easy walk to the ground. As nice as Etihad is, it'll never feel like Maine Road to me. 

[leopard88]

On 10/3/2021 at 5:23 AM, Discogod said:

That's exactly right, the stadium was extended and rebuilt at several different times, resulting in a rather disjointed aesthetic, although I think that was part of the charm.

 

That's pretty typical of older European soccer stadiums . . . and a lot of American college football stadiums.

[MJWalker45]

On 10/2/2021 at 4:33 AM, Discrim said:

That had to be a pretty convenient walk for a lot of Man City supporters.  Knowing nothing about how Maine Road evolved at all, the stands all look like they were built at wildly different points in time, or at least were designed by wildly different architects.  

Having both Manchester teams share the stadium after World War II probably affected some of that rebuilding as well. Old Trafford was damaged severely to the point United called Maine Road home for several years afterwards. 

 

2 hours ago, leopard88 said:

 

That's pretty typical of older European soccer stadiums . . . and a lot of American college football stadiums.

Penn State comes to mind since people call it a giant erector set. 

[leopard88]

7 minutes ago, MJWalker45 said:

Penn State comes to mind since people call it a giant erector set. 

 

That's one of the first ones that comes to mind for me.  They've tried to dress it up a bit since I first went to a game there in 1991, but it still looks pretty daunting when you see 50+ feet of steel beams holding up an upper deck that was added 60 years after the stadium was built.

 

1960 --

 

 

1982 (or at least the status then, though the picture is probably a lot older) --

 

 

1991 --

 

 

Present --

 

 

[M4One]

No longer there, but Empire Stadium, the original home of the Vancouver Whitecaps and BC Lions, was built next to a residential area, and the PNE fair and an amusement park.  There isn't a lot of parking there, so you would have nearby residents selling parking spots in their backyard.

 

 

When the Vancouver Whitecaps joined MLS and BC Place was getting renovated, a temporary home, Empire Field was built where the original stadium was.  The Lions also played out of there.

 

[tigers]

Near where i live at the moment we have a Stadium, Sports Complex, Gym, Playground and Wave Pool in a area of an Urban setting.

The Stadium holds about 2500 seated spectators, but i have been to a game for both tennants and i believe the Swans Albirex who wear orange  (yes related to the Japanese club) was around 3500 crammed in seated and standing. Meanwhile Tanjong is the older of the two but has moved around a fair bit and probably to be fair doesn't have as much of a following as Albirex Nigata but their fans are more passionate to an extent.

Train station 5 minutes walk and yes it's in Singapore but we are counted as  a country setting told to me by locals as we are in Jurong East but it's called Lake Village.

 

Have a look at this, i was at this game.

Swans in Orange.